A Day to Remember
by dustin at night
Summary: Shepard, on a lurch after a disastrous meeting with her ex, meets a intriguing woman willing to wet her flame. Tame so far, but rated M for future content.
1. Like a dog finding a bone

The day had a certain "fuck you" tint to it, though Shepard as she sat in her least conspicuous corner of a no name little bar off the trading floor. She quietly nursed her straight whiskey, trying and failing to keep rehashing her encounter with her former lover, Liara. The whole experience had left her feeling more dead inside than when she'd mistakenly agreed to watch the Lazarus project reports with Miranda. Shit!

The day had started so swimmingly, too. Shepard had finally just left Horizon after a final encounter with her former team member, Kaiden Alenko, had ended well enough with Alenko deciding to profess his undying love, then call her a traitor. The cackling laugh Garrus made as Shepard bloodied his nose, knocked him on his ass, and winged him once in the foot as she was walking away, how could she not think things were finally looking up. But upon finally getting word that her lover was hiding out on Illium, and rushing immediately to her side, the cold response and often acerbic taunts left her with no doubts as to the cause.

She was, or to be specific, her dying was. Not that Shepard would admit fault or even allow herself to feel shame, it's not like she'd have wasted time with melancholy when her lover suddenly popped back into reality after a 2 year stint as a popsicle.

These thoughts flitted through her thoughts in half broken lurches, as alcohol and depression warred for control. It didn't make her any less observant, though. As a small slice of perspective reflected on her crippling relationship status, she noticed a not completely unfamiliar Asari trying to look as though she wasn't hawkish in spying on Shepard, but after picking up and cleaning the same 3 glasses about 6 times without ever shifting her gaze, it took some skill to be that blase. Picking up her drink and wandering up, Shepard took a moment to observe the Asari who turned to greet her without looking shook up at being caught, definitely some training to her.

She had a slightly fierce countenance that seemed to come half from her sharply defined features, hard and firm where most including her previous...lover were soft and sort of rounded. Though Shepard knew she'd been observing her for some time, she still made a effort to look slightly confused, then surprised at seeing Shepard walking up to her. "What, wait, aren't you Shepard? Wow, kinda makes my day. What can I get you?" Shepard took a moment, as her usual rush in and hold a gun against people's heads routine had her immediately flashing to Liara threatening her client not 20 minutes ago. Taking a breath, she said," Not really looking as wondering why I'm such a interesting target for observation. I don't have to worry about you sneaking a ghost program in my omnitool, do I?"

Seeing her discretion had the opposite effect of making her a suspect, she quickly put her hands up in a halting gesture, saying,"Wait, wait! Yes, I noticed you, and yes I could've immediately owned up to knowing you, but I figured I might leave you to your own worries. Looking at the way you've been putting away that horrid human alcohol, let's just say I've been around long enough to know when someone's here to listen and engage, and when they're tuning out."

"Well, in that case, thanks." Shepard felt discomfited, as her just barely avoided reaction of shooting this stranger in the head, for merely trying to honor what little privacy she had left, it was intolerable. She couldn't walk around at the moment as any hinting aggravation might set her off, and no matter her current mind set, she would never be able to live down starting a massacre because someone stubbed her toe. Seeing the soldier in her eyes shrink back, the bartender whipped out a 100 megawatt smile, which was easily returned. It seemed that both knew what the other was thinking and both feeling a bit of euphoria from the close call. "I'm Aethyta."

"Shepard, pleased to meet you." Shepard took another moment to run her eyes over the matriarch, obvious if you knew where to look, and couldn't help feeling a flutter of amusement and something more at the Aethyta's roguish grin. Something about the Asari had always been a bit of a compulsion to Shepard, ever since she'd risked her life for her first girlfriend on Mindoir, ultimately failing to keep her from being captured, ever since she'd had a automatic sense of honesty and love from the species. Not that such hadn't bitten her before, that eclipse kiddo had a full 3 seconds after buzzing her shields to experience the sight of Shepard just staring at her open mouthed before she retaliated in her typical overkill fashion, probably resembling a fish on land. Aethyta, for her part, immediately saw what was a radiant combination qualities to the Asari and imagined it had likely drawn a few maiden after her with drool slipping from their lips, Shepard was the perfect example of a alien any Asari would love to fuck.

She was like arcing electrical current, constantly shifting and as though a split personality were made manifest, she seemed to make every twitch and lift of her brow seem heavy with authority and power. To the mono-gender Asari, who had little to appreciate from the males of the species, human females were so similar and here was one with the joy and exuberance of a maiden and the power of a matriarch, a very compelling figure to her culture. Even knowing her daughter's interest in the matter, or perhaps thanks to that, she'd taken a interest as soon as she recognized the iconic N7 armor walking into her door. Having watched from her omni's remote monitoring program, she knew that this would either be a moment of singular serendipity that she had a chance to bed this human without directly taking her from her own kin.

"I've been here a while and have come to know the drinkers from the distractions, and you drink like a woman not looking to get drunk, but to have something for your hands and mouth to do while you brain strangles itself with it's frustrations." Shepard quirked her lips at this, knowing to to be dead on accurate in her case, and said,"I'll take this distraction over my other hobbies right now. Going out on a rampage might not actually calm me down, and...," halting, Shepard forced her head down as her blush began to creep up, continuing,"Well, it's the best of available options."

Aethyta took on a knowing full on smile, as she threw caution to the wind and reaching out, rested her hand against Shepard's, said,"The thing about living a thousand years, we all learn that distraction is the only way to survive this bitter universe. You humans seem to hesitate so much for such a short lived species, if you know how to calm down and it isn't offensive, why not ask?"

Shepard, for the first time since Udina had betrayed her for Council gold star stickers, felt her emotions literally lock off her throat. It took a moment to process the implied offer, and instead of immediately tossing it in favor of trying to reconcile with Liara, she looked at it as perhaps a genuine offer from another sapient seeing another in pain. She knew things were potentially broken with Liara, that there wasn't any wrong in appreciating and even accepting the offer, but the real thing that decided things was her first few moments with Aethyta, she hadn't hopped on her lap and planted a kiss, unlike some shameless hangers on hoping to be seen with the great Shepard, she'd stood off the the side and simply let Shepard exist. She could see Aethyta hadn't been too nervous, but had actually tried to help without a moment of reciprocity being demanded.  
Finally narrowing down her response, she immediately felt better about her decision upon seeing Aethyta's blush when she said,"Ask hell, why not take someone by suprise?", as she reached across the bar and slip her fingertips down the side of the slim Asari curves-hugging dress.

-.

Aethyta quickly skipped ahead of Shepard as they neared her apartment building. Shepard had seen, as they walked, a nervousness building up in the beautiful Asari matriarch, a nervousness she was quick to reflect as she considered that she, "Commander F'in Shepard", was likely to engage in a little amorous activity with the relative stranger. She several times felt almost overcome with giggles, a nervous trait she'd noticed during her first dating attempts, but that she'd assumed had been defiled and buried under Mindoir. Still, the smile of amusement Aethyta had delivered as a small little chirp had wormed it's way out soon had both of them tittering like school girls as they approached the mega complex the appeared to be like the old fiction arcologies.

Quicky flitting through the lobby to the elevator where innocent kissing seemed to kill much of both of their jumbled nerves, they both tried to exit the elevator without heaving breathes, but it was a close thing.  
Entering the apartment immediately changed Aethyta, it was as if she was the lioness reaching her favorite hunting grounds, her shoulders settled minutely and her back straightened, pushing the tall beauty another few centimeters taller than Shepard. The transformation of her face and eyes was very intriguing as she looked at Shepard in the doorway, seeming both hesitant and flighty, Aethyta decided to remove the last doubts about leaving.

With a corona flaring about her arm, Aethyta smiled a cat in the cream smile as she gently lifted Shepard a few centimeter and drew her close, tantalizingly close. Shepard almost began a biotic blow back upon seeing the corona, but fortunately had held herself short, the worst way to show trust to new lover was to involve them in any way with a warp explosion.  
Aethyta saw the the flicker of doubt, and couldn't help but smirking as she drew Shepard close. "You don't have to worry, though I know you will still feel the flickers of emotion trying to flare up, I promise you by the end of tonight, you'll hardly have the energy to pick up a kitten, let alone worry about mistakenly attacking me."

Shepard hang a hands breath from floor, suspended, but not with the annoyance of physical bindings. She felt longing ache as Aethyta slowly traced her finger along the curve of her shoulder, between her breasts, and down to her midriff, the static arcing as across their skin as biotic touched biotic and slowly balanced their natural charge. A required delay for any full contact between biotics, simply holding hands for a few moments would prevent accidental arcing in the worst of times, such as arcing right when one's tongue first touched the clitoris.

Though normally just a minute or two of holding hands as each tried to maintain the mood with over the clothes petting, and fierce eye glances, this new method Aethyta was demonstrating had it's appeal. No real waiting, just use the arcing as another method of...stimulation. Shepard felt her eyes bulge for a moment as the blue goddess traced circles of tingling excitement around her nipples.

As the arcing finally died down, and Shepard recovered from sensory overload, Aethyta took a moment to appreciate her prize.

AN: Updated for minor grammar and spelling fixes, please do inform if you spot anything amiss.


	2. Soul Food

Looking at Commander Shepard suspended, in her control, Aethyta couldn't stop the wave of joy and euphoria at the sight. Her red air slightly disheveled in that classic no-bull Shepard look so popular since the movies were released, her surprisingly high dollar black slip dress drawn taut against her frame. Even held aloft, eyes rolled back into her head as the Asari teased at her by lightly dragging her nails through her hair, across her back, and with excruciating slowness, her inner thigh, she still had the impression of a whirlwind of force contained in a small fragile body. "Shepard, I've heard the rumors about your previous crew, all the rumor mills going into overdrive after your death, so any truth to the stories? Have you ever _tasted_?"

"Tasted? Not sure, and I'm not really willing to delve into my past relationships, why not start fresh?" Aethyta chuckled,"Only a race so young could ever believe in starting again, but as I've heard so often from your people, c'est la vie," and with that, she lowered Shepard to the ground, and swept forward to hold her in her arms as Shepard started to go weak at the knees not only from the time aloft, but from the constant stimulation as they spoke. "You keep me at the edge too long and the night's entertainment will be over before you get to the previews." said Shepard as she held to Aethyta's surprisingly strong arms for support.

"Now I know you've never been with a Asari, you should know that I feel what you feel even now, that rush of ambition and want; there, you feel that tightness and fullness from within and the wash of joy at culmination, there is need to fear leaving your partner wanting when they feel every joy of touch with you."

Shepard took this with surprising grace, thinking back for a moment to her first moments with Liara to reassess, the saw how Liara had seemed half participant, half observer and thus Shepard's multi-hour sessions to keep her interested had actually been a small species difference, that while she could never regret her efforts given the love and joy Liara had been kind enough to share, she might have avoided a few curious glances during the first few weeks when she and Liara were always feeling the need and never seeming to get enough to the point of one time locking out engineering to take each other in the catwalks.

They were literally teasing each other to the brink and simply assuming they were done, not knowing the pressures they were putting on each other. "I would relish the opportunity to learn."commented Shepard as her heart began to slow to it's normal pace, she finally began supporting her own wait and took a moment to glance around the room.

Until that moment, she'd never notice the slick tan and white desert palette, the carpeting that resembled and felt like a down comforter, and what appeared to be a purplish-blue 3 meter globe in the corner that looked a cross between a water bed, being contained on all sides, and a raven's nest. "No matter how many times I realize it again, I never get past assuming everyone just uses a standard lay flat bed."

Aethyta, noticing her traveling eyes lingering on the _Aveil_, a Asari bonding sphere, she chuckled,"Shepard, I've seen and used many of your lay-flat beds, they generally suck as having consistency of block granite covered by a sheer cloth, that isn't a bed. You know how biotics are and we Asari can't exactly take out our biotics with a switch, thus the bond chamber acts as a receptacle for unintended biotic displays. You would hardly think my people in the fond light of the galaxy's diplomats if every time we hooked up, we blew out the side of a station." she said with a knowing grin. With that said, and Shepard looking completely at ease, Aethyta lightly took her hand and lead her slowly to the bowl.

Trying her best to appear sultry and indomitable, Shepard stopped as they reached the _Aveil_, before looking to Aethyta teasingly, "I could let you hold me aloft and strip me, but something tells me you'll like this more," she said taking those lovely blue hands together and guiding Aethyta to sit on the edge of the Aveil's entry. Taking a step back, Shepard tried to remember her last visit to Omega, seeing the beautiful dances, so free and open like their dances could equally be for their own amusement as the patron's entertainment. Realizing that her natural battle coordination wouldn't assist, and her complete inability to dance without driving observers into fits of laughter, Shep decided a little peek-a-boo would be about the best she could do. Slowly reaching to her shoulder, caressing her chest with one hand as she reached up and unclipped her left strap, she tried to saunter a bit with a simple beat in her head, letting the strap fall and reveal one breast, which she almost immediately half-covered with her hand and she began to sway her hips.

Aethyta couldn't believe her luck, as she finally had Shepard opening up. The transition was smooth as silk, as Shepard went from being lead, to guiding her to her own bed. Now sporting oh-so-famous half-smirk clearly meant to raise body temperatures 1100 degrees, she couldn't help but smile in return as Shepard lead her like a new conquest, this 30 year old stripling leading the thousand year matriarch like she was a 90 year old school girl. Needless to say, she was very much enjoying herself. The moment Shepard stopped and paused in front of her had Aethyta guessing, until she was placed in a perfect spot to watch and treated to the sight of the soldier-turned-savior enticing her like a maiden reveling in a club.

She couldn't resist, and half started to raise when she saw Shepard release her clasp and show a flash of skin before being cruelly obscured, only or Shepard to raise a halting hand, smile innocently, and continue her slow torturous show. Aethyta in a odd moment of clarity and dissociative thought, realized this is what a drug addict must endure, to be so tantalizingly close to fulfillment that the desire alone might force oneself to act unintended. For the first time in her life, she wondered at the strength of all of the night club customers who'd stare longingly at their fantasy girl, weeks on end, and never move a muscle. Aethyta resorted to biting her lower lip and pouting in a exaggerated way.

Seeing her wiles working the cool blue Asari enough to add "Tali" purple to her cheeks, Shepard stepped forward within arms reach and began her own examination. Experience and love made the scales of the along the scalp ridge line a first target. Keeping her other arm to the front of her dress, she gently traced the line all the way down to the shoulder, loving the shudder that passed and the slight trail of luminescence following her finger as she tease the tips of her scalp with one hand while arcing her neck around to trail a bead of kisses beneath her other "ear".

Her first time with a alien, she'd been afraid of somehow begin completely turned off, or repulsed at another species mating rituals, however it's a truism of life that feeling another's pleasure can make nearly any difference a point of indifference. Thus to the stars and Asari, while not able immediately drawn in by skin luminescence as it becomes excited, the blackening of the eyes, it is the slight moans of ecstasy, the obvious joy that make every shift and change a gift to be explored, empathic love to be cherished.

AN: Damn, I'm good, sometimes. Or so my reviews tell me. Really, though, is it?


	3. And then She called!

The morning light came like a garbage scow on fire in the river, kinda pretty to look at, less pleasant to experience. Thus any teenage boys fantasy to see Shepard wake up to a beautiful Asari matriarch hovering over chest, trailing kisses to her navel, it would be hard pressed to not imagine her radiating joy, but as the old family joke,"Shepards' are blessed with interesting lives." flitted through her head, Shepard couldn't hide the disappointment quickly enough, as Aethyta stopped and crooked her head at Shepard in the classic "huh?" gesture.

"Sorry, don't mean to interrupt nor would I want to." quipped Shepard, hoping to skip any explanations, but she could see a little flutter in that blue brow that showed the joke wasn't going to let thing slip.

Seeing her morning's pleasure would at the least be delayed, Aethyta rolled over to lay on Adriana Shepard's legs. _"Huh, guess a roll in the bowl will kill any idolatry not even Shepard in my head anymore,"_ thought Aethyta as she considered her furtively quixotic morning companion. Knowing the likely cause, and seeing as she was still finding herself blushing from memories of last night, she decided to go easy on the kid for the first few moments of the day.

"Hon, you can't think I'll be pissed because you woke up thinking I was someone else?" Shepard jerked, though not getting very much traction since the sheets were near friction-less and her legs were pinned.

"It wasn't that it was her, it was that I wasn't me, well not the me now but the me prior to my...recovery period. It was jarring since I haven't had those thoughts or dreams for months. I had a bit of a accident and I'm told by my little Tasmanian devil of pep and cheer that I'll probably be adjusting through the rest of my life."

"Ah, and now that I understand perfectly. See this," Aethyta pointed to where a human would expect a lower left rib, "can't see it now, miracles of medigel and modern medicine, but here is where the center of my wound was, still kind of hard to even mention as it never fails to bring the memory to the fore." Shepard looked and glided a finger over the smooth skin at the area she pointed to, unlike a human, Asari have a cartilaginous shell, as opposed to individual ribs, so she couldn't see any damage, when Aethyta guided her fingers she could feel the smallest divot where she assumed a bullet had pierced.

"What happened, if you don't mind sharing?" Aethyta considered but some things take time, "Well, I could go into the long and depressing story, or.." Aethyta gave a small grin.

"Or?"

"Or, now that I'll get direct credit for my efforts, I resume my morning exercises." Shepard couldn't help wishing thanks to whatever creator claimed responsibility for letting her get away with just the personal dream issues that had bumped her morning's depression button. The hardest pain came from waking up to a trail of kisses and a slight cinnamon vanilla scent that pushed her way back to 2 years ago when pledges of love and commitment had been spilling from both parties lips.

Remembering that so soon after what was at best a platonic meeting with her former lover, was like a grand master chess player after a traumatic brain injury loosing all ability to play, after loosing a part of yourself that was once the central beacon of how you define yourself, well..recovery is always a nice goal, but sometimes people don't recover, they just change and that is the possibility that was hurting so much right now.

Now to today, when opening her eyes she had seen the truth and the illusion of the past was painfully ripped away. "Skip story time, then. Lets get to round 6, 7? I'm not sure where we left off."

"Humans always try to quantify, last night was one, this is two."Aethyta said with a Cheshire grin.

Finally as noon rolled lazily past, Shepard awoke with a revelry only a career soldier sleeping until noon could appreciate fully. For one whose life was often full of predawn shelling and balmy afternoon snipe hunting, luxury was waking to the sound of..humming? Huh? Taking a moment to appraise her condition, nude and in desperate need of a shower, Shepard tried to hop out of bed gracefully, and immediately regretted it as the slip cover caused her to nearly back flip as she tumbled out of the bed in a heap of covers and throws. As starts to a day were predictive, Shepard had the sneaking suspicion she'd be ending this day either in a full on fire fight wherein a lot of her plans would bite her back, or in another stranger's bed. Add the fact that she was beginning to itch for another firefight and few would wonder why she believed mornings were predictive.

Assembling herself as best as possible with blue near-satin sheets for a robe and pink fluffy pillow cases thrown on like booties, that made her look like a 4 year old wearing their mother's socks, she shambled towards the oddly non-irritating humming coming from down the sunbeam laden hall. Looking up for a second to see where the light was coming from was a mistake, as it was enough to accidentally spot the sun shining down through the sky light and leave her momentarily blinded.

Thus, Shepard, savior to thousands, and threat wielded like a cudgel by both Alliance and Council, was seen stumbling into the kitchen, being surprised at the suddenly slick floor surface and for the second time of the day felt herself in a crumpled heap on the floor. The titter of glee from the blue smudge in her vision next to the window made the accident almost worthwhile for the smile she heard in her voice being brought out. "Shepard, if anyone ever saw your morning routine, they'd assume you were either hoping to join the..what's it called, the circus, or simple daft in the head."

"I haven't gotten enough caff in me to rebut that remark, but be warned it's simmering in the noodle." Seeing a blank look slide across Aethyta's face for a second, before she shrugged her shoulders and muttered "humans", Shepard felt a little glee at stumping the matriarch for a moment, even if it was with colloquialisms. It was kinda like feeling good for beating a 3 year old's calculus exam results, hardly the thing to write home about, but after this morning it was enough to get her laughing as she crawled back to the carpeted hallway to attempt levering herself up.

The mood was immediately broken as "Blue River" started to sing from Shepard's omnitool. Aethyta was starting to ask about the music when she turned and noticed a very pale and twitchy Shepard slowly let herself back down to the ground. Knowing that anyone who knew her also knew she went everywhere with her omni, she didn't even have a excuse to delay replying a few blessed hours. Shepard glanced quickly at the face half hoping a error had swapped tones for just about anyone else in the verse.

_"No, damn it, no, no, and crap! There must be some vengeful deity orchestrating this!"_ Shepard thought, _"There's just no way a rational mind would ever try to kick a hornets nest for joy and giggles, was there?"_ Taking a another 10 seconds as the music blathered on unheard by either of the room's occupants, Shepard looked herself over and simply breathed in and out a few restful times. As the song was wheedling down and the caller likely to begin assuming Adriana wasn't in the mood, Shepard pressed accept.

Liara's beautiful face appeared, her only imperfection a slight yellowing of the lower eye lids indicating a severe sleep dept. "Shepard, hello..I was not sure if you'd pick up." Liara looked at Adriana, her love and literally the most painful experience of her life rolled in one, and almost wept seeing the floppy haired human almost smothered under a pile of some sort of cloth, her dark eyes simply staring like a torture victim stares ahead, knowing no matter how they react, their deliverer was about to darken their day.

Half of Liara's psyche almost slammed the disconnect button, in fury at Shepard's accusatory glare, shame at thinking she was right to hate her. The other half, the dead half that had been alive with Shepard and had been numbed into ice by her death, that part just wanted to get this over with so she could go on pretending it had never happened, the greatest point in her life just a beautiful dream too great to keep for fear of blotting out everything else.

Simply staring at each other for a moment, neither willing to break the moment with words that would never be enough, but finally Shepard asked,"Yes?"

AN: Good? Good enough? Could be worse? Let me know, pretty-pretty-please!


	4. Bitter pills make everyone edgy

Liara shook herself to shed the thoughts of nights in bed with the Commander, though seeing Adriana Shepard in what looked like a nest of blankets was making it very difficult not to flash back to happier times. Like a cold water down the back, for a moment the situation had forced everything from her mind. It took Adriana turning her head in confusion to show she'd been staring for a bit too long.

"Sorry again, Commander, but.." Liara started, but saw Adriana jerk at her title. It'd be a long time for things to heal over for both of them it seemed. Everything was still raw to the slightest twinge, and it was with seeing her love seem to tear away and a broken shell was what had been left as a distraction from the theft. Starting again seemed simpler. "Shepard, I know it's not what you'd want, but this is all I can do, we're both far too visible to be seen together and not have someone willing to blow up a district to eliminate us." "Wait, what? We're too visible?!"Shepard's brain threw up it's hypothetical hands in fear and retreated to the corner to wait out the beast rearing it's head.

"Liara, how in the fucking world can you not see what's actually happening? Due to my death, my return is quite literally biblical, and given your role in that, you honestly expect imaginary threats to brush me off? Maybe when I get the real truth as to who's hunting who, but until you trust me, don't call me. It just hurts worse than Akuze, every moment is hurting me."With that, Shepard disconnected before digging her head deep in the covers to cry.

Aethyta simply watched from the sink, not sure where to go. Knowing her normal throw the problem against a wall until a solution rolls out wouldn't help, and that her own indiscretions would only exacerbate the issue, she walked over and laid a firm hand on the biggest bump of the heaving mound. "I'd try to talk about it, but we'd both end up regretting that, but what I can do, I do well." with that Aethyta picked up the ball and carried the nearly oblivious Adriana to the bed. Taking a moment to uncover her head, Aethyta lifted her chin to meet eye to eye. "Drink? Maybe a roll in the hay later if you think it'll help?"

Shepard, feeling miserable and insufferable, especially as she was babied by the matriarch felt a gear shift at the question. She still felt pain and a strong sense of betrayal, but she seemed to finally let go of feeling guilty for, well..being dead. You don't blame a dog for being dead, and if by some miracle that dog is revived, the first thing to do would be to show appreciation for their no longer filling worm food detail. "Drink, yes, as to the roll, maybe in a bit, but right now I need to get out and burn some energy."

Seeing the "soldiering on" attitude that seems the prerequisite for sentience finally kick in, Aethyta lit up a smile, "Any particular interest? This being Illium, there's a hundred different venues with every race's desires laid bare. I could show you a few spots, or let you have the day if you'd prefer. Though I do think we should do lunch first, don't you?"

"Sure, sounds like a life saver, though given a rather unpleasant recent experience with a volus-cross-elcor blending visited on a whim, let's shoot for bland, blah, nearly human-foodish food." Aethyta had to chuckle, "Why do you people always seem embarrassed by requesting to go to Mickie D's?" Shepard halted for a millisecond before she started to lightly vibrate with excitement and shot a doe soft look of absolute adoration to Aethyta. "You have McDonalds?! Yes! Yes!" with this the covers were flung across the room and Shepard for the second time tried to hop out of bed only to go cartwheeling towards the asari by the door. Aethyta, having a millisecond to see the rapid shift and know something would probably happen, fortunately caught her in a lift field, negating her mass and allowing her inertia to be stopped with a quickly lifted hand.

"Sorry, but it's been a year, wait make that three years since I had a burger with something approaching beef. No matter how you dress it up, varren will never equate to cows, nor should they." During this diatribe, Shepard was a blur of snatching her apparel from about the room, where it'd been hastily flung yesterday. Noticing a divot where her boot hit the wall, Shepard looked to Aethyta guiltily.

Noticing, Aethyta flipped a negating hand out, "Don't worry about it, if you look over there where you other boot is, you can see I actually got the heel to embed itself into the wall a hair. Looking over at the wall, she saw the slightest impression of a N7 boot print on the wall, with her boot lying next to it like a negligent criminal sleeping at the crime scene. Glaring at it as if it should feel shame, she somewhat awkwardly one-shoe shuffled over to put on her other boot.

"Kinda silly if you think about it, Alliance boots are all made with synthetic polymers on the soles of the boots, the stuff is resilient to acids, temperatures, nearly impervious to slippage due to the design, and they decided that N7 boots should be metal heeled and have a designer freaking design on the bottom. So, best soldiers in the Alliance, trained to sneak past hungry wolverines and expected to handle every environment, are given freaking tap shoes that sound off your presence every time you let your heel touch the ground. First thing I did as a spectre was requisition everyone on the ship a pair of standard issues. Not that that's of particular interest to you, but I'm pretty sure your neighbors would've complained about the mysterious hole in the wall and smelly shoe in their bed like a dead skunk, if I'd gone for the less stylish option."

Seeing the slightly cross look, Shepard quickly amended, "Not to say you were overzealous, just my way of saying nice arm." With that Shepard snapped her last buckle and walking to the door, draped a hand around the beautiful blue hip and said, "And now that I've almost given myself a concussion from trying to shove my foot down my throat heel first, we should see about getting you ready, unless you'd prefer to venture out in your birthday blues?" she said with a winsome smile, her eyes slightly unfocused for a moment as she tried to imagine the first few seconds of such a day.

Aethyta, seeing the worrisome and nerve racking despondent Shepard had finally went back to bed, and apparently let manic Shepard loose, decided she'd need some minor simulation before she was able to keep up with Shepard again. "Yes, yes, you look somewhat worth my while now, so give me a moment to get ready. Go take in the view while I get dressed."

"View?"

"Shepard, really? You walked into my apartment last night and didn't notice?" Smirking, her eyes twinkling with enthusiasm and amusement for the contrary human, "Go to the living room and take a gander at my small and pathetic little window. Size sucks but it's still worth it." With that she nudged Shepard towards the front room as she turned to evaluate her closet options.

AN: Been editing the format and trying to spot any little one word errors in grammer and syntax, if you spot anymore errors, please feel free to PM me as I probably won't be doing another review until the next 90 day update, but really hate to leave obvious screw ups just dangling like loose trash on a highway.


	5. Pop goes the Shepard

Adriana stood at the window and felt a little vertigo from the complete lack of visual boundaries. Literally a entire wall was just a open void that only felt safe for the complete lack of 130 kph winds not sucking her out as they climbed up the tower. Feeling a need for boundaries she tried to touch the glass only to receive a minute shock from the contact. "Ow, what the hell! Hey Aethyta, is this window also double as a bug zapper?"  
"What?" was the muffled reply.

Deciding to ignore it for the moment, she tried to take in what she had missed last night. Given that she'd be so oblivious as to fail to notice a 10 meter city-scape in place of a wall told her that her conscious mind had been far too preoccupied and was leaving her vulnerable. The rooms were all a egg shell white that... Shepard took a half step from the window, noticing a odd quality in the rest of the room, and walked over to the walls and started to try and block all ambient light as she looked at the wall's reflection.

-.

Having slipped into a beige-blue shawl wrap designed with seemingly natural holes worn into the dress in particularly suggestive areas, Aethyta up back out to see Adriana standing several strides from the impressive view, a feature that accounted for roughly 30% of her rent, to have her hands cupped against the wall as though she were using invisible binoculars to peer through the wall. "Adriana, I know you're supposed to break armatures with your hangnails and be godlike compared to regular grunts, but even you couldn't see through that wall."

Jerking a bit to hear her name, Shepard slowly turned with a smirk only to jerk to a halt halfway as she caught sight of her Matriarch. Only a few centimeters taller than her, she had a slightly waifish-thin look in her bartenders outfit, but her new attire left little to guess at, and not the slightest hint on emaciation Her dress's cleverly designed look made it appear as though the asari could be completely unaware her dress has large holes across her abdomen, along her inner right thigh and the side of her breast. The only certainty that the dress was in fact new was that none of the holes had frayed edges or were there any holes in less suggestive areas. The blending of colors made it look like alternating turns of asari and human skin tones, such that both together made her purplish skin take on a blushed plum look in comparison.

Her rapid retort of "Yeahhhummmhuh?" left Aethyta with a smile that ached her face from how wide it became. "That was the reaction I was going for, hon. So, like the view?"

"The view is amazing, but oddly enough, not enough to distract me from your wall. Why does it seem to glow?"

"Oh, heh. I was wondering what would draw you from the only reason I rent here, the walls are painted with slightly iridescent paint. With the large window to capture light, unless I close the curtains for the day, when we get back tonight, you'll find the place develops a ethereal feel when illuminated by just the night view of the city and the moonlight reflection off the walls." Looking around at the angles, she couldn't help asking,"How does the moonlight reflect off the walls?" "No, no. That's just the name of the paint, mostly just a advertising thing as the glow has a slightly greenish cast that no one on except the Elcor would associate with their moon."

"Ah, well seeing as we're away and have something to look forward to this evening, shall we see about making the last half of the day a adventure?", Shepard said with a excited look to her eye. Taking her arm, Aethyta looked into the endearing eyes of her companion and felt a way of euphoria peak through her on contact. Looking down at their hands for a moment, she couldn't help her heart beginning to race as she also began to get excited. A day with the commander, could have worse plans.

_.

The heat of the day was just starting to ebb, and the crowds were beginning to pick up again on the trade floor as Liara T'Soni watched from her office situated just above it. The day had barely begun before her conversation with Shepard had left her sitting in the corner of her office, tucked out of view of the window and any possible visual surveillance, she cried into her favorite possession, a beaten band tee shirt given to her two years ago by her love. She'd said that nothing would ever keep them apart, not the Alliance, Cerberus, not the bloody Reapers. She'd never guessed that Shepard should have included their own names to that list.

As she sat trying to muffle her sobs, she knew that the Shepard she loved had changed, permanently. It was almost crushing the realization that they might never be able to reconcile. That Shepard could feel pain just at seeing her former lover was another burden in addition to her worries. She stopped herself with a thought, what if Shepard couldn't take it to see her again. What if for the next thousand years, she'd have to remember the last 80 years of Shepard's life as a pariah. Could she stand living when the only thing she loved was avoiding her like highly irradiated particles?

She'd many times comforted herself about Adriana's shorter lifespan by knowing they'd agreed to have children at the first available moment. She'd built a small fantasy in her mind where she would walk the same streets Shepard had grown up in, her hand in hand with a beautiful asari child, as she told her of her extraordinary "other mother". Just thinking of Shepard's assumed title had brought a fleeting quirk to her lips, before dropping back to misery. Another dream just as certainly gone.

Feeling completely worthless and aching with memory, Liara flashed to her days following Shepard's death. She'd been in dark times, feeling the lack of her bond mate's gentle touch in her mind, knowing that she was dead, she'd considered just ending the whole travesty. Let the council damn the galaxy, she didn't care now that the only light in her view was gone. She'd been in a dark place until a mysterious message came along from a unlikely source. Cerberus was going to try and bring her back!

It'd been a haunting moment of indecision before she'd decided she couldn't live without Shepard, even if that meant allying with her enemy. Now, though. Shepard was here, right here, and never had she seemed so far. Even in death, she'd still been a memory of a smiling face and fleeting moments of exotic joy. Now every flash of Shepard was of a face wreathed in frustration and pain at seeing the asari broker.

Knowing her day couldn't get much better and certain that remaining at her office over the festive floor would only make her more miserable for having to hide her feelings, she decided to take the day, maybe the weekend to vent and heal. Grabbing her bio-metric coded satchel and slipping her backup to her slim hip pocket, she messaged her new assistant to call for her escort.

Taking a moment to settle herself for public exposure, she started for her office door before halting and resolutely returning to her desk to take the hidden picture of Shepard from beneath her terminal pad. After waiting another few minutes at her door, fidgeting at the wait and knowing she'd be able to relax herself in the privacy of her home. Finally her terminal emitted the dual tone high-high-low pattern indicating everything was covered and she could exit her office safely.

Barely glancing to her assistant as she left, she barely noticed anything beyond the trade floor and the small path she could see between customers separating her from her secured vehicle pad. Quickly snapping her head left and right and not seeing anyone taking undue interest, Liara began to walk to her car with her two krogan bodyguards as organic shields against the loiterers. A gift from Wrex upon him somehow finding out her quarry, they'd vowed their lives and those of their children as her protectors. Kancus and Berr were her almost friends and after a few late night evenings retelling old times, had gladly taken the nickname of her "Shepards".

As she walked past the Serrice boutique, Berr held up a thick hand, saying nothing. The small party halted as Berr stood boulder -still in the market crowd flows, forcing the normally crushing flows to divert around their group. After a second, Berr shook his head and twirled a finger to vertically as if to say, "Nevermind."

Letting her pulse begin to relax, Liara began to follow her guard again, but couldn't breath. Halting herself, the realized she was no longer upright, and was on the ground with something pressing into her throat. Trying to pull away, she found her arms were jelly to her, unable to do more than twitch, and then causing her blinding pain. Trying again, suddenly sound which she hadn't noticed had been silenced came roaring back with screams and sudden realization that she smelled burning flesh.

Knowing she should have stayed in her office, Liara both thanked and cursed the Goddess for small pathetic miracles, as she felt herself beginning to pass out.

AN: Writing is tough, so sometimes you just throw in a random bombing to spice things up.


	6. Every freakin time you turn away

-Blank-  
The was nothing, nothingness with no borders, no light or dark, just a banal neutrality and endless emptiness there was no world, no sound, no feeling, just existence without definition or perspective.

-Pulse-  
A tremor washes through, through me, I am here. What is this place, am I alone?

-Pulse-  
A horizon in the distance, the only thing perceptible is the terminus in every direction, a shell where the only reality is the wall and nothingness.

-Light-  
Liara tried to shake her head as dregs of blankness and worry slipped like a dream and she began to perceive the world around her. A white wall seemed to ripple in the distance, but she still couldn't perceive anything else about herself, she was held not rigidly but without energy to shift, she might as well be bound in concrete. Beginning to worry about how she had arrived and what had happened, Liara tried to give a yell to anyone nearby, only to hear,"Hrhhp!"barely whisper from her lips.

Confused by her lack of volume or control, Liara summoned the will to try again, stopping herself as she felt a shift in the world not unlike the geological shifts she'd felt on Therum as the world tried to collapse on her. A fleeting flash of terror from the memory tore through her only to fall away as Adriana's face slowly lifted into view. She felt the pressure of emotion forcing memory to pull at her mind, sorting the vagaries of a hazy dream with what had lead her there, but Liara fought the pull, serene and calm with just the view of her love staring at her with worry and relief commingling on her face.

_.

Looking down at a Liara banged up and showing areas of yellow and crimson where she'd been struck in the explosion, Adriana fought to control herself, to not cry in grief and pain at seeing her love in pain, to not run out and start threatening and demanding answers until whoever had done this was quartered and left in the deserts of 3 separate worlds. Anything other than to sit and wait for Liara to open her eyes.

For the past two days, Liara had been held in the hospital, and only in the last 3 hours had she shown any real signs of coming around. Aethyta had all but forced her out as soon as the emergency response team had contacted Shepard as Liara's emergency contact, and since then she'd done little other than sit at her bedside and try to distract herself with net surfing with the omni on mute.

Her eyes traveled over her, triple and quadruple checking to anything to do or fix. Seeing her robe had started to come open from her tossing and turning, she reached to pull it tight before halting only as she touched the robe. Somehow she felt guilty for still loving the sight of her navel rising and falling in restful comfort.

Now that the doctor had stopped and taken the time to fully reassure Shepard of the patient's eventual full recovery, she started to feel like her presence would only exacerbate any problems. She couldn't leave however, she knew in her place, she'd want Liara to be the first sight she saw, even if only to remind herself of why she still needed to fight. Love was a confusing pain in the ass, sometimes.

Firmly reminding herself that no matter what Liara was still someone she cared about, she gently pulled the robe closed and settle down in her seat, taking Liara's left hand to hold as she had for the last two hours since Aethyta had left. She knew she shouldn't feel so conflicted, but she couldn't help feeling like no matter her choice, she'd be betraying one to chose the other, even if she decided to chose neither, someone would feel a blade to the heart. Sitting here waiting for her to wake, that was a small choice.

Hearing a echo of her mother's voice in her head, Shepard remembered her words after a fight had occurred during her eighth year of schooling,"A choice that didn't feel like a choice is one that defines us best. You could've stood to the side and let them take his shoes and keep calling him names, you could've called a teacher, but you stepped up and ended up fighting all three. So no matter who tries to glare at you at school for standing out, don't think for a second it was the wrong decision. It was the right decision for you." Looking over at her love, she couldn't say whether it was right or wrong to leave her new love, for the sake of the old, but it hadn't felt like a choice.

A slight warble lifted Shepard from her musings, her eyes immediately jumping to Liara. Standing up quickly to lean over her, Shepard had to brace herself on the bed to keep her relief from sliding her to the floor. Staring into her shining eyes, she felt a pitch in her chest as her eyes teared over. Keeping herself steady for a instant, she leaned over to give a kiss on the forehead before a slightly long but restrained kiss on the lips. "Liara," Shepard whispered,"are you okay, is there anything I can do?"

Liara heard the tremor in Shepard's voice, the same hurt and agony having been in hers as she'd stood next to Chakwas after the Citadel battle had almost killed Shepard, feeling such pain at the idea of her love almost dying, while feeling euphoria upon her waking. Shifting her mouth to work saliva and summoning her energy, she pulled ever so lightly against Shepard's hand, Shepard immediately shifting so her eye was just before her mouth, straining to pick up the slightest whisper. Taking another moment, Liara leaned slightly forward to brush kiss on her earlobe and eased out,'Forgive me, my love."

Shepard quickly turned to Liara, seeing her eyes already beginning to close as she'd used up her little reserve to say that little. Knowing that it the situation was still to be resolved, she tried to be comforting and did as anyone would in that situation. "Of coarse my love, now sleep and get better." She lied.

_.

Aethyta stood on the patient outdoor lounge, trying to take a moment for ignore her instincts. Following those had lead her to chase the love of her own child, to have abandoned that child over a century earlier, and to have allowed and encouraged Benezia's crusades to better people despite their own natures. It may take centuries, but even a thickheaded half-krogan asari can learn, and she knew going in to check on her daughter, especially with Shepard being unable move from her bed for fear of her awakening alone, would be the the most foolish of instincts to follow.

That hadn't stopped her mind from spending the last couple of hours trying to rationalize a excuse for some random bartender to be checking on a information broker she'd never spoken directly to and was also kinda screwing her ex. She'd come up with several outlandish ideas for the defending the random visit, but the screwing was trouble from every angle and Goddess forbid any more revelations would decide to come up in the defense of it. No, the best option was to stay out here and hide like a wounded Vorcha nestling from it's peers.

At least the view was nice, though the sounds of hundreds of isolated patient rooms being individually controlled for air filtering and individual environmental requirements had left the hallways and even the little patient alcoves to the outside world cheapened by a wisdom teeth chattering hum, unnoticed except when someone was trying to be alone with their thoughts, then it was a splinter in the mind constantly reinforcing that this was a place of pain and death and futile attempts to change the inevitable.

Realizing that she wasn't going to be of help, especially with her thoughts trying to circle a mobius strip of despondency, she left a message to Shepard's omni to contact her when she felt she could take a moment and left to see what she could about thus mysterious blast. She might not be able to ever be loved by her daughter or get her respect, but she'd be damned if she couldn't put the fear of singularity in anyone's ass who dared mess with her girl.


	7. Time to heal yesterday's hurt

Seeing the wounded Asari before her made her ache in a dozen ways, most still too conflicting to be called good or bad aches. She'd sat in the chair hoping for words to come, a way to explain both to her former love and herself why she couldn't continue with the hope of a relationship. Words like "too much baggage" and "better for us both" kept flickering past, but she couldn't find a way without saying something that would hurt Liara, just as surely hurting her in turn.

The beeping of a heart monitor had become a soothing reminder of her continue well being and Shepard couldn't help but think there should be music available that incorporated the sound. She had found the time to resolve some of her feelings, and could say with certainty that it was a net positive that Liara was alive. No matter their relationship now, she could never be happy with a world where she was either hurting or gone.

A small pick up in the tempo of beeps informed Shepard that Liara was finally waking again, the little fifteen hour nap she'd taken since their last few words having been a respite to Shepard despite the circumstances. As her blue eyes opened to take in her surroundings, she could see Shepard hunkered over her omni in the corner, likely messaging some war into peace, or ordering pizza, whichever was slightly less expected most like.

Delaying herself for a few seconds more to collect herself, Shepard popped up as Liara made the effort to call to her, moving over to her side to look her in the eyes. The sight still made a large part of herself hum with warmth and hope, though those feelings had been waning in the fast few nights, only now that they were alone was it suddenly causing her throat to constrict and breathing to be a challenge without hiccuping.

"How you doin', Liara?" asked Shepard, her hand unconsciously reaching to hold the blue shoulder near her. Seeing her eyes dart to the hand, Shepard noticed herself and slowly pulled back as she looked down. Seeing a look of hurt flash across her face as the hand was taken away, Shepard had a flash of irritation at the one in front of her.

"I'm...not sure. Something..happened but I can't really remember. A flash, some pain, but then nothing." Liara looked back a Shepard, seeing her so tense as though she'd been the one hurt.

"It was a strategic attack, someone tried to take you out. I'm sorry but both of your guards didn't make it. It seems they blocked most of the force, the only real damage you suffered being where one of them was flung back at you by blast." The sentence seemed to be given in almost a monotone, barely a pitch in her voice before she'd evened out to a informative lilt.

"Who? Was anyone else possibly being targeted " asked the information broker. She'd ran across many illicit operations, even by Illium standards, and couldn't rule out a coincidental attack also having her in the collateral damage column. Furrowing her brow, she tried to quickly run through possible agencies that'd both be worried enough to attack her in such a public and secure setting, and those who would be willing to use a inefficient bomb as their method.

"Whoever it was, they were after you. Examining the bomb showed that it was keyed to a micro transmitter somewhere within the market floor. Whoever triggered it waited until you were nearly upon it before setting it off. They would have succeeded if either of your guards had been a foot out from directly in front of you."

Seeing her former lover describe the situation do precisely, like a field report to a officer, Liara tried to keep herself calm, but her heart rate suddenly started to pick up as she couldn't keep thoughts out of her head. Shepard no longer with her, no longer caring. At the last thought she felt tears start to trickle out and could hear a small whining as a call alert went out to the nurse.

Shepard could see Liara beginning to cloud over, likely as she flashed back over the bombing, could hear her heart start to quicken to a flurry as tears began to form and fall. Quickly leaning over and catching her cheek, she pressed her forehead against her love's, using the calming technique they'd developed prior to her death, only to be pushed away by a hand.

"Please, just..I need a moment." Liara's face smoothed out as she focused on a point roughly a foot in front of her, blocking out all memories and thoughts, "becoming the stone" as her meditation teachers had taught her as a girl in her biotics classes. She resolved herself that she couldn't be moved by emotion, by memories, by environment, the mantra of the divines, before opening her eyes on Shepard, only to have her emotional barriers immediately crumble at seeing Shepard holding the hand she'd pushed away like it'd been amputated.

"Would it help if I left?" Shepard asked with a broken voice. Hearing her words, but feeling their meaning, Liara shook her head briefly,"No, please no, just it might be difficult for a moment. Would you please stay?"

"Of course, not even Reapers knocking on the hospital windows would pull me out of here." Shepard replied with a false cheer, the smile on her face not even close to hiding hurt in her eyes or seen in the slump of her shoulders as she pulled her chair up to sit next to the bed.

AN: Seemed a good place to end it, short chapter be damned.


	8. Talking at each other

They sat together in silence, listening to each other breath, and the world around them seeming to crescendo with the natural tune of life proceeding out of sight. After a few minutes, almost like magnetically bound, their hands had unconsciously joined, though not a word or glance was shared. To a outside observer, it would appear as though neither knew the of the other's presence as they seemed locked in their own mental universes. Though one might poetically say they'd shared one such universe, the effects of that experience and it's repercussions were in many ways haunting both women.

A few minutes passed as Shepard found herself furtively looking from the ceiling, to the window, at the time on her omni, and in between little glaces at Liara always to immediately look away.  
Liara, for her part, merely looked at Shepard without deviation or shame, lapping up her image as a desert wanderer laps a oasis' waters.

"Adriana, what do you expect? A appology or explanation?"

"What, no! Now isn't the time, anyways, you should focus on getting better. I should go." With that, Shepard made as if to rise from her chair, but was halted as Liara seemed to burst out a screech of anguish.

"What, what's wrong?! I need a doctor in here!" Liara heard her shout and pushed a hand up to catch her attention, her simple, "Stop," halting all of Shepard's flurry in a moment.

"Do you hate me? That why you can't even look at me without feeling pain?" Liara's probing questions were starting to hurt a previously iron clad trap for her emotions, pushing and pulling at her calm frame of mind until she just snapped back,"Why the hell shouldn't I, Liara, you left me to go on some merry quest for revenge? I get it, you moved on, but that doesn't mean I need to stand next to you silently watching everything I loved in the world die. You were the reason I pushed through every mission at the end, and have been since I came back, but now I can't even look in your eyes without wondering where MY Liara went."

"Your Liara!" Liara's face was a strident wash of yellows and turquoise her face drawn in competing expressions of shock and anger. "Your Liara died when you ran off to save a idiot who refused orders to evacuate, she died when I saw the Normandy fires dying in the cold vacuum, the last light coming from you as you entered the atmosphere. I had to watch you burn in the sky!" Her face was unable to stop flexing and felt as though every muscle was sore from being punched repeatedly.

"I told you why I couldn't just jump in your arms the instant you got back, remember. People were hunting me, people who would love to take the both of us out! I nearly died in a bombing not a day later and you can't get past that first moment back! Did I do so little to earn your faith, Adriana?"

At this Liara voice cracked and she seemed to shut down, closing her eyes as her chest heaved, trying her best to calm and smother, anything to keep the overload of emotions within her from violently erupting into a biotic storm the hospital could scarcely withstand. After a moment, she finally opened her eyes to see Shepard still in her chair, half raised as she'd been frozen since Liara started her outburst, the slight of her eyes seeming to end her rigidity and allowing her to slump back into the chair as if struck.

"I'm sorry." Shepard muttered the thoughts out loud, not even noticing she was voicing her thoughts, she continued,"When I first woke up, I had a terrible vision as I saw the Cerberus logos all over the place. That I'd not died, but rather hadn't been there when you needed me. I saw the crew captured, Garrus, Wrex, Tali,...you, all being taken and tortured, the worst of what we'd seen and I couldn't stop the fears from tearing me to the ground." Shepard stopped for a moment, eyes tearing up at the memories.

Taking a breath, she continued,"The first person I saw was a man hunkered under fire. If I had seen his shoulder patch, I likely would've just killed him there or ran on to let him get cut down by the mechs. As it was, I saved him and the second sentence from his lips was that most everyone had escaped the Normandy. It was by luck of the draw that I was taking a moment to reload the new clips, so by fortune of expedient delivery, Jacob still lives. Since then, I was on a path that had you at the terminus."

Seeing the asari start to perk up, Shepard couldn't help but smile,"First person we were supposed to pick up was a Salarian medic, but intel painted the whole 'Archangel' incident as having precedence. The fact that Garrus would've died if I'd considered the timing again still hurts, but the first thing he said as we met back up was.'Where's your lady, Shepard?"

Seeing Liara raise a eyebrow at the direct question, Adriana could help but smile,"Hey, it's Garrus, he can even ask for pictures as long as he doesn't try to horn in on my lady." Liara's face began to tone down its strident look, a small smile lingering on her lips as she heard 'my lady'. It had been her nickname from the old crew, a title and honor among the mostly Alliance crew to let her feel a role on the ship beyond independent contractor, though it would change in meaning throughout the voyage. They'd in many ways become new adoptive family in the wake of the events on Noveria.

"Every time I ran into a old friend, of which there seems to be a amazing conspiracy in the universe to guide me back at least once to every old crew mate, they mention you, or rather us. So, yeah, my first meeting with you had a bit of romantic drama dreamed up, maybe a slow run up where our eye met at a distance. Being almost pushed out the door, a threat from some piss ant merc group, come on Liara. Can't you try to see it from my side if I try to see it from yours?"

-.

Aethyta stood motionless in front of a large bank of flickering monitors, silently cursing for the eight hundred twenty third time the distortion filters that were plugged into ever covert monitoring system on Illium. _Fine and dandy to coerce idiots into slavery, but Goddess forbid we capture any random person's image without a court order._

She'd been looking over the week's log prior to the blast, looking at where the bomb had supposedly been centered. Thus far, she was two days prior to the incident, watching blob headed groups of people marching past the point, nary a single one pausing at the site of the future blast.

She sighed in frustration, she could only hope that the bomb had been placed in the last week, as any longer would be beyond the storage of the cameras over the trading floors. A flicker at the edge caught her attention, a group of four with children was walking steadily backwards, the girl wobbling oddly. A second later she saw the little girl pick herself up from stumbling against a nearby counter, her family sweeping in to help her up.

Seeing it in reverse, she could see the sudden jerk that had made her fall, could see one of the adults had either pushed her or tried to catch her as she fell. With no zoom features available, Aethyta pulled up the specialized tools on her omni, the tool a moment later manifesting a curved transparent screen that allowed the asari to slightly magnify the image.

Peering closely and running the footage back and forth a few times, she could tell the child was asari, that the one that had helped up had been a salarian, and that he'd definitely pushed her precisely at that moment. She could see the barest flicker of movement as he'd bent forward to take her hand, a whitish blur all that was visible of the moldable explosive he'd apparently wedged under the lip of a nearby counter as he'd made a flourish of patting the child's clothes clean and wiping her eyes.

Finally, with a time and species, she had enough to work with, a cruel smile forming on her lips as she considered her plans for making the alien talk. She felt a small twinge, her last couple hundred years she'd barely had to use her combat or biotic skills on anything more threatening than a Turian spec ops soldier needing to be tossed out on his bony ass, but the thought of her child laying comatose in the hospital put fire behind her eyes. No one got away with messing with her girl.

AN: No worries about Shep and Aethyta running off in different directions, something tells me they'll meet up later, probably a couple of times if they're social about it.


	9. Bad time for a career change

Jan'zee stood at the lip of the tunnel, his eyes bugging wider than usual at the turn of events. Before him was a drop of nearly a kilometer, the buffeting winds at this altitude forcing him to keep a hand on the safety rail mounted at the side of the tunnel mouth like a tongue held in the corner of the mouth. It's slimy texture, due to the cityscape's minor pollution and the altitude forcing the vented air to condense the moment it touched the near artic chill of higher altitudes, only reinforced the mental image of a cavernous maw, a tentacle of steel arcing up into the night sky.

A soft "_pitz-pitz" _dragging sound emanated from his rear, making the very weary Salarian whip about, his hands immediately swapping places as he held on with his left, while he tried to mask the draw of his weapon by keeping his body angled away from the tunnel's throat. Seeing nothing, hearing nothing other than the staccato of his dual hearts nearly deafening him, he tried to draw a slow breath and ease his stress levels.

A moment later, his pulse finally slowing, he looked back towards the city, only to fall backwards in shock, the tunnel mouth was now edged with blue radiance, a asari woman hovering at the mouth, her face a mask of calm as though contemplating the bug that had infested her domain.

Biotic arcs ran along her body as she glided to a landing at the lip he'd just recently vacated. The Salarian started to hyperventilate at the blue haze covering the alien's normally blue within blue eyes, she was the embodiment of wrath as her form dissipated her strong natural charge against the tunnel side walls in a final cascade of blue lightning, finally leaving the tunnel darkened but for her luminescent eyes.

Reacting more on fear than survival instinct, Jan'zee rolled backwards, his firearm whipping up and firing blindly as he launched himself towards the ladder of the tunnel leading back down. Or at least that had been the plan, but the now literally maimed tunnel which had been closed as though a god had decided to pinch a straw in the middle, the shock at finding his escape so completely blocked without his even noticing the violent warping made him freeze in place, his mouth just bobbing open and closed as he tried to comprehend the forces obviously aimed at him.

Just another tunnel rat looking for a cred' to survive, he knew he was the bottom of the ladder, the scum beneath richer, more powerful whims, who would ever bother with such heavy handed pursuit for him? Such were his rapid fire thoughts as he slowly looked back to see the obviously matriarchal asari slowly approached the cornered irritant.

"Jan'zee el Kuric, near credit-less, willing to do anything for a credit, and stupid enough not to look too deeply at his employers, you are about to tell me everything, and you won't even be able to hope that dying will end your suffering, not until I have every detail and memory, because I'm not here to deal with you but to make a statement about taking on my girl."

The Salarian collapsed at the statement, his limbs palsied by terror at the sight of the glowing eyes deepening to dark pools, the last light from within the tunnel fading to gloom a millisecond before horrific shrieks began to echo into the night. In dilapidated building a block away, a homeless Turian sat in the corner of the window, looking at the streets for opportunity when he noticed a flicking light. His eyes cast upward to a exhaust vent for the high rise power plant, the light flickering in and out probably indicating a panel had shorted.

A moment later the light had faded and he'd begun to scan the streets again when a ululating howl began to echo the streets. It wasn't machinery or accident, obviously some organic trapped at the edge of oblivion, sadly a regular occurrence on Illium. If he'd glanced back upwards at the tunnel again, he'd have noticed a charred corpse fly out of the tunnel as though spat out, it's blackened skin split and flaking, his form fell through the night, barely enough consciousness left to scream as he fell to the dark streets below.

Looking back up, he did chance to see a Asari at the mouth, lit by biotic flashes as she casually stepped out into the night and fell at a rate far below that which gravity would lend. Her stance and the obvious power as she'd been borne out of the tunnel caused him to jerk back, his evolutionary flight or fight response jerking him down away from the windows in a half second. He didn't know who or, really, what he'd seen, but it would haunt his dreams in the days when he couldn't fall asleep with a bottle.

-.

Adriana stood in front of the vending machine, her movements jerky and stiff as she tried to press the button forcefully, but in a controlled manner as for the sixth time in a row, the machine failed to recognize her selection. Finally snapping in frustration, she jabbed her index finger, stabbing forward and popping the button viciously, and quickly being rewarded as her selection fell into the basket as the front display screen developed a small crack and waived the proverbial white flag with a small holo message stating the machine would be down for maintenance. Chuckling at the obvious capitulation of the inanimate, she grabbed her gift before slowly walking back towards Liara's room.

Taking her time, she tried again, as she'd done every moment she'd stepped out of the room, she tried to sort her thoughts and feeling into rational courses of action, only for impotent rage to strike her in flashes so hot she'd thought her face must be melting from the blood rush. Liara hurting, being hunted, being alone, all while she'd stepped out and hooked up with literally the first Asari she'd met. She couldn't say anything yet, but she didn't know what to say either, so that was a small blessing.

Her eyes wandered the same path they always took as she entered her ex's room, first mapping the room and the exits for the slightest disturbance, her eye's automatically arcing up and away from Liara to make their orbit. After the cursory glance failed to ring any alarms, she could finally look at the bed ridden patient, now finally napping. Her arm was tucked under her head, her right hand still extended out to where they'd been holding hands as she'd fallen asleep. From previous experience, Adriana knew that she'd start clasping as reaching for her hand after about a half hour before startling herself awake to look for her.

Despite her reservations about her obviously redeveloping feelings, Adriana quickly took her hand, Liara unconsciously settling at the contact, her face loosing some of its tension as her lip quirked slightly into a grin. A moment of weakness and want hit Shepard forcefully enough to make her whimper, then submitting to the need before anyone else might want to intrude, she leaned forward to gently kiss her brow, two small pecks that left a lingering taste and scent to her senses, like a drug that made her head feel euphoria as her stomach began to rumble and war against her heart for dominance. She'd never felt so much for one person in her life, she couldn't even put a label to her ex-lover, even the ex part seeming to be just a hasty description hardly touching on the reality.

She leaned back again, hand in hand with her now peacefully dreaming love, as she looked at her small gift before settling it on the night table. While mostly a child's toy made in honor of heroism, the small Normandy SR-1 plush toy made their first joining immediately spring to mind. Shepard settled back slightly and found her eyes fixated on the toy, her eyes beginning to unfocus as she remembered their first real touch.

-.

Aethyta stood at the end of the hall from her daughter, and lately, her companion, dithering on whether to just come in and get a moment to see her daughter through something other that a holoterminal, or if she should just tap on the divide to let Adriana know she was around if needed. Try as she might, she'd wandered the walkways and halls looking for a exit only to turn back every time she came close. Even her momentary trips to "check up on the investigation", as she'd phrased it to Shepard, had been nearly impossible without Adriana's assurances that she'd let her know the moment she left. As she'd never seem to leave her daughter while she was alone and defenseless, she was better guarded than if the matriarch herself was at her bed side.

Eyeing the door again on her thirtieth or so loop of the premises, she finally let her weary legs dictate the direction, her shuffling steps leading her to the frosted window hiding Liara in her private room. She gently rapped thrice against the frame, causing a muffled exclamation to be heard before a side door opened quickly and fierce visage leaned out the room with a Predator pistol pointed in her rough direction, swirls of biotic destruction already sweeping around her left hand and ready to rend molecular bonds. Seeing the lately demure, at least in hospitals, Asari give a little half wave Adriana released her coiled form and as easily as dropping a worn set of clothes, dropped the invincible soldier facade to show the troubled face of Adriana, the human with just slightly more on her plate than she could handle with all the forks in the world.

"Hey babe, just letting you know I'm taking the rest of the night to go and sleep. Anything I can do or bring tomorrow?" Aethyta curled a finger under her chin as she reached around with her other to knead the tense muscles on her neck. A soft sigh left Shepard as she released the tension of the momentary threat and that of staying with Liara, always floating a line between falling back in love, doubts about her current feelings of appreciation for her new love, and that's only when she could keep her mind from the current Collector threat that's claimed another colony while she'd been waiting at the hospital with Liara.

"Just, just keep doing that."

AN: Not done, promise. Keep reviewing, as I also really, really promise, it helps me keep writing. Also thinking about getting a beta reader, put out a request on my other story, but surprisingly this one is the popular one, so here it is; if you like the stories and would be willing to edit and update as needed I could put these chapters out at a much more reasonable rate. Anyone interested just PM me.


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